Artificial Intelligence – Help or Hindrance?

According to Microsoft, studies are finding that, while management is embracing artificial intelligence (AI), they apparently have an overly optimistic concept of how that will affect the organizations below them. The headline in their article is “Management drank the Kool Aid but staff can't cope with new demands.” According to a survey, Executives who have implemented AI in their organizations are expecting increased output, wider skill sets, broader capability to handle responsibilities, greater efficiency, and more time at work. Conversely, employees include in that same survey felt more burned out and struggling with the increased demands from management. Nearly half say they “have no idea” how to deliver the expected productivity gains, and they state that AI is actually slowing them down and making them less productive.

The bottom line is that both managers and employees think AI will help productivity, but there is a significant gap between theory and actuality. One notable statistic is that 96 percent of executives think AI will increase productivity, but only 26 percent provide any training in AI programs to their employees.